Ragging death: Engineering student commits suicide in Nellore district

Tirupati: Failing to cope up with alleged ragging at an engineering college in SPSR Nellore district, a second-year student ended his life by jumping in front of a moving train near Kavali railway station on Saturday night.

The incident came to light on Monday after the police fished out the body of the victim.

The deceased was T Pradeep Kumar of Sankarnagarm in Ananthasagaram mandal. He was pursuing his second-year Electronics and Communication Engineering at the RSR Engineering College in Kadanutala under the Bogole mandal.

During Maha Sivaratri, the 20-year-old visited his aunt in Kalugolammapet and later in the night jumped in front of a moving train.

It was first assumed that the death was an accident. The police suspected that Pradeep may have been run over by a train while he tried to cross the track. However, the deceased's parents, who spoke to the media on Monday, claimed that their son was subjected to ragging by the senior students, which drove him to take the extreme step.

The deceased’s father T Penchalaiah and mother Lakshmi Kumari alleged that their son was being harassed by senior students at the college managed by MLA Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy.

“Our son was meek. He had been under constant pressure from seniors and other outsiders at the college to provide them the phone numbers of the girl students of his class. They used to grab his phone and force him to buy beer and biryani for them,” the parents alleged.

According to the parents, they had discussed these matters with his lecturers and requested them to get a transfer certificate from the management, but this did not happen.

"My son informed us a week ago that the complaint led to an increase in ragging. He said that his seniors had threatened him that he would not be permitted to take the exams if he left the hostel. While our son was scared, we didn’t anticipate that he would end his life,” the couple said.

Kavali GRP police registered a case of suicide. The case would be transferred to the Bitragunta station for investigation. Meanwhile, the college management denied there was any ragging in the college and claimed that the student had not informed it of any such issue in the college.